Person of Interest – .exe

The penultimate episode of Person of Interest takes Finch (Michael Emerson) into the heart of the enemy and to the precipice of a decision of how far he’s willing to go to destroy Samaritan. Armed with one of the world’s most dangerous computer viruses and the need to protect his friends before they face the same fate of Root (Amy Acker), the only decision Harold has to make is would he be willing to harm his own artificial intelligence to stop Samaritan? To help its creator make his decision, The Machine offers a series of simulations of what his life, and the lives of his friends, would have been like if he had never created an artificial intelligence.

Searching for Finch, Reese (Jim Caviezel) and Shaw (Sarah Shahi) follow the breadcrumbs The Machine leaves providing Harold a much-needed window to execute his plan. Things are no easier on Fusco (Kevin Chapman) who, in a scene reminiscent of his first encounter with John, is captured by one of Samaritan’s agents and taken to a deserted location to be dealt with.

Person of Interest is certainly pulling not punches in this final season. While all the human characters survive the episode, and Samaritan appears to be in its death throws in the final scene, there are a number of questions to be answered next week. Can Finch make it out of the government facility? Has he signed a death warrant for The Machine? Now that they’ve committed espionage on a large scale against the United States Government, and may no longer have the protection of The Machine, what happens to our small band of freedom fighters? The looming shot of the destroyed subway station which opened the season foreshadowing what was to come seems all the more ominous now.